TOOELE COUNTY (UTAH). COUNTY RECORDER

Agency History #1166

CREATION

The office of Tooele County Recorder was created by the government of the Territory of Utah in 1852. The recorder has custody of and is to keep all books, records, maps, and papers required by law (Utah Code Unannotated, 1999, Title 17, Chapter 21, Section 1).

FUNCTIONS

The operations of the county recorder are all specified and required by state law and have changed little over time. The recorder is required to record all documents submitted by the public which are qualified to be recorded: to maintain an up-to-date and accurate set of maps (or "plats") which show the current ownership of every tract of land in the entire county; to maintain indexes to all recorded documents; and to perform all functions of a clerical and technical nature to accomplish that objective.

When any instrument authorized by law to be recorded is accepted by the recorder's office for recording, the recorder shall: endorse upon it its proper entry number, the time when it was received, noting the year, month, day, hour, and minute of its reception, and the amount of fees for recording; and record the instrument during office hours in the order it was accepted, together with the
acknowledgments, proofs, and certificates written upon or attached to it, with the plats, surveys,
schedules and other papers annexed to it (Utah Code Unannotated, 1999, Title 17, Chapter 21, Section 12).

The recorder keeps the following records and their corresponding indexes: fee and entry records which record all legal instruments filed with the county recorder and a record of any fee if assessed for services by the county; grantors' and grantees' indexes which are used to index all deeds, final judgments, claims, patents, or decrees partitioning or affecting the title or possession of real property; mortgages which show personal or real property as security on a loan; deeds that show land ownership; liens which register instruments affecting property of a debtor; lease records which represent legal agreements concerning the change of leasing of land; plat maps which reference property ownership and changes in ownership; mining records which are kept for the purpose of monitoring and registering mining claims and operations; powers of attorneys indexes which show the authorizing of legal power for parties involved in land acquisitions; water claims which show water allotments within the county and their ownership; military service records which are discharges filed with the county; and official records which are a compilation of the records registered by the county recorder (Utah Code Unannotated, 1999, Title 17, Chapter 21, Section 6).

The county recorder shall have a seal, to be furnished by the county legislative body, the impression of which shall contain the following words: "State of Utah, County Recorder," together with the name of the county in which the same is to be used (Utah Code Unannotated, 1999, Title 17, Chapter 21, Section 2).

ADMINISTRATION

The Recorder was originally elected to a four-year term (Compiled Laws of Utah, 1876, Title IV, Section 214). In 1886, the law was changed and the term was changed from four years to two years (Laws of Utah, 1886, Chapter XXXI, Section 2). In 1921, the law was changed again and the recorder was to be elected to a four-year term (Laws of Utah, 1921, Chapter 39). All records in the Recorder's Office are public and are open to inspection during regular office hours.

The County Recorder is supervised by and reports to the County Commission, formerly the county court.

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

The county recorder may with the consent of the county legislative body appoint deputies and assistants as necessary for the discharge of the duties of his office (Utah Code Unannotated, 1999, Title 17, Chapter 16, Section 7).

COMPILED BY: David Clark, ,
November 2000

SOURCES

Utah. Legislature. Laws of Utah. [Series #83155]

Utah. Legislature. Utah Code Annotated. [Series #83238]

Utah. Legislature.Utah Code Unannotated.[Series #1052]

Utah. Territorial Legislature. Ordinances of the State of Deseret 1850-1851.